Crimson Sky was silent as he descended to the gate of Canterlot, guided to the ground by two sentries. As if things hadn’t gone bad enough, the only reason showing ID at the gate would be mandatory is if there had been a situation in his absence. He landed and shoved his card in the face of the young guard at the entrance, making it quite clear he was not happy with the distraction given the circumstances. The kid faltered, too busy staring at the injured blue mess that was draped over Sky’s back, and he snapped, “She is INJURED! Let me pass. NOW!”
“Y-yes, sir! Sorry!” sputtered the armored yellow mare as she nodded to her partner who opened the gate.
He broke into a light trot, trying to move as quickly as possible without jostling his injured teammate. Admittedly she wasn’t in as bad of shape as he had thought when he first encountered her, flopped lifelessly on her back with a badly pummeled face, but he wasn’t willing to take any chances. “You’re a fool, Dust,” he scolded softly as he turned the corner to the infirmary, “A stupid, arrogant fool. I told you to take a squadron. I told you to take me and Merrilay. You didn’t listen and look at you: you got the ever-loving crap kicked out of you. You’re tough, Dust, but you’re not a one-mare army. You have an entire air force at your command; use it. What’s the point of spinning those recruits all the way to Tartarus and back on the Dizzitron if you’re going to leave them at home twitching their tails while you go in alone? What were you even trying to prove?!”
“Sky…” slurred the weak voice of Lightning Dust from his back, struggling to form consonants through a painful and injured mouth, “you mouthy piece of trash… I’m conscious… you know…”
“I know,” he said coldly.
“You disobeyed a direct order…”
“I know.”
Crimson Sky shoved the door open and the medics inside jumped to life, one running for a stretcher while another ran to ask what happened. “Sky…” said Lightning Dust weakly, “You can’t tell anypony I got trashed by a cripple… I’d never live it down…”
“What happened to her?!” asked the medic.
“Training accident,” said Crimson Sky as he helped ease her onto the stretcher they had brought, “She was being stupid in the mountains and got herself hurt.”
He ignored the insistence of the medic that he wait in the lobby and followed the stretcher to a room, keeping his gaze locked onto Lightning Dust’s venomous glare every step of the way. She didn’t like it one bit when he talked down to her and this time he didn’t care; he didn’t like it when she pushed her luck for no good reason. The medics milled about the room, getting their gear ready as Sky just sat beside the stretcher, staring at her beaten face.
“Don’t ever pull a stunt like that again, Dust,” he said softly, the way he would speak to his daughter, “Dust. We lost Twitch. I… lost Twitch. Don’t make me lose you too.”
“Sir?” said one of the medics in an understanding tone, “We really need you out of the way. Your friend’s injuries thankfully aren’t severe, but we need to be able to focus if we are going to treat them.”
Crimson Sky hesitated for a moment and nodded. “Fine,” he said as he stood up and began to leave.
“Thanks for coming for me,” said Lightning Dust, quickly and quietly as if she didn’t actually want him to hear it.
He gave her the embellishment and left the room without so much as a glance, grumbling softly with frustration and exhaustion as he let the door shut behind him. Technically he had followed his orders to get some sleep: he took a nap before his meeting with the inspector and ultimately flying after Dust to keep an eye on her, but it wasn’t nearly enough to and he found himself feeling almost sick with fatigue. Still, he could push himself a bit longer; he wanted to know exactly what had happened while he was out and if it was something that concerned the R.E.A.F. With Dust out of commission for the time being he was the acting commander, which meant he had some decisions to make before he could even think about sleeping.
With any luck it’s some trivial guard matter and I can spend a solid day in the sack.
Before any of that, though, as long as he was at the hospital he had something else he wanted to check in on first. He had been meaning to check in on Pinstripe all this time and hadn’t gotten around to it yet. After a quick trot down the hallway and, silently hoping he had gotten the room right, he entered 116.
Both Pinstripe and Sandback were chatting and abruptly threw their hooves up in a salute, with the former quickly letting out a hiss as a bolt of pain quickly reminded him of his injured shoulder. He clutched it and clenched his eyes shut with a deep breath before looking up apologetically.
“Easy, now,” said Crimson Sky with a weak laugh and a half-hearted salute of his own, “I don’t need any of that right now. How’s the shoulder?”
“Good, sir. I’m supposed to be out of here tomorrow,” said Pinstripe as he nervously studied his bandages, no doubt afraid he had reopened his would, “Figures, right? I finally get a roommate to keep me company a day before I’m released.”
Crimson Sky glanced over at the pony in the bed next to them, a white stallion and undoubtedly a guard judging by his build, was sleeping off some manner of injury. Sky sat at the foot of the bed and patted the small stack of letters on the bedside table, “From the family?”
“No, sir, the unit,” said Pinstripe, his voice sounding somewhat somber, “…My parents never even bothered to answer the letters I wrote them.”
Sky felt a twinge of guilt from bringing it up as Lightning Dust’s words from the other day about their unit being built out of ‘castaways’ came to mind. “I…” he began and trailed off; he simply was not good at this kind of thing. “So… Was there some kind of incident last night?”
The kid’s face lit up nervously, “Uh… I don’t really know the details. Uh, sir. I overheard some doctors talking though. There was a prison break in the holding cells last night and a lot of guards were injured. Sir.”
“WHAT?!”
Both Sandback and Pinstripe recoiled from the outburst. “I don’t think anypony was killed,” said Sandback as he gestured over at the sleeping white stallion, “That guy there was one of the sentries. He got stabbed and they stole his keys.”
Crimson Sky came this close to losing his temper but kept himself in check. Both Silver Spoon and Twitch’s killer were in those cells, along with those two little Rainbolt punks. The guards, the R.E.A.F, and even that glue bag Featherweight and those disgusting little things that followed him around had devoted way too much time trying to capture those prisoners and in one deft little act of stupidity they all escaped. He threw himself to his hooves and stormed over to the guard’s bed determined to get some answers, and felt another set of hooves wrap around him and hold him back. “Sir! NO!”
Sky glared at Sandback who, having seen the anger on his face, was restraining him. He took a few deep breaths to calm down and let his muscles relax, and the young medic released him. Calmly he walked up to the side of the bed and gave the frame a firm kick, “Rise and shine, soldier. I want some answers.”
The stallion flinched in the bed and grumbled as he awakened to the apparent pain from his stab wound. He rubbed at his eyes and faced the captain, his white disheveled features looking tired and sore beneath his shaggy mop of a mane, and silently stared as if he wasn’t sure what to say.
“Hold on,” said Crimson Sky as he instantly recognized the guard from the other day, “I know you. I thought you were an inspector; since when do you guys do sentry detail?”
“I… oh…” said the stallion nervously as he spotted a faint red patch that bled through the white sheets, “I… yeah. They were short-staffed, a schedule mix-up I think, and I owed a sentry a favor.”
“Sandback,” said Sky, “Fix that bandage of his.”
“Sir.”
As the young medic went to work, the old captain scrutinized the guard. His gut was telling him something wasn’t right about all of this. “Double-tasking, huh?” he said, holding his suspicion behind his usual cold mask, “Wasn’t aware you guys did that kind of thing.”
“Not often, sir,” he said, giving a silent nod to Sandback in appreciation for the fresh bandage, “Desperate times and all that, right?”
“That’s for sure,” said Crimson Sky. He stared, trying to think exactly how to word himself. “Listen. I know us and you guys don’t have the most… amiable… of backgrounds, but it’s like you said: desperate times. I need you to help me out here. Tell me what happened. How did four prisoners escape their cells and waltz out of Canterlot?”
“Five, sir,” corrected the guard, “They had help. A teenager, by the looks of it, got in and jumped me. I took him down no sweat but one of the prisoners got my spear. One of them managed to drive those… things that Environment Equestria drives around and they brute-forced their way out of the city.”
“A cloud carriage?”
“Nopony’s ever pulled a stunt like that. We weren’t ready and had no means to stop it; even Captain Rumble was injured.”
“He’s not—”
“You kidding, sir?” said the stallion, “He’s indestructible. Bit of a limp and a scuffed knee is all. But—”
“Starlight!!!”
Crimson Sky stepped back as the inspector and a young stallion he didn’t recognize burst into the room. She threw her hooves around him, quietly ranting about how glad she was that he was okay while inadvertently crushing the life out of him. A quick gagging noise caught Sky’s attention; Sandback had a hoof over his mouth and was making an almost successful attempt to keep from laughing at the sight in front of him. Crimson Sky wasn’t amused; he couldn’t help but be somehow troubled by that young stallion with the inspector. He looked young and harmless enough, too young to be a guard, and there was just something… off about his movements. Sky had been a fighter since his youth and knew how ponies moved; earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns had subtle differences in their movements and postures that were quite noticeable if you knew what to look for. This earth pony moved as if he was used to having wings, and for some reason it was bothering Sky to no end.
Focus, Sky. You’re just rattled from all that’s happened. Leave the kid alone.
“Inspector,” he said abruptly enough to surprise the huge mare and catch her attention, “About your offer the other day…”
The inspector’s face lit up and almost instantly became worried. It took her all of a second to realize why he changed his mind; she was good. “Why the change of heart? What happened to the Major?!”
“She was taken down,” he said, pausing long enough to shrug off the worried glances from his subordinates, “She’ll be fine. But the perps got away and I found no sign of this ‘element’ thing they were talking about. However, I found this.” He reached into his flight suit for the tattered bandana he had found stuck on a rock near the cliffs, the same one that one-eyed pegasus from the other day had worn, and gave it to her. She perked up at the sight of it, her eyes becoming wide as she stared down at it. She definitely recognized it. “What do you make of it?” he said.
“I… don’t know. It’s old, I know that much. Looks hoof-made, probably by a foal.” Her eyes shifted between the bandana and Sky, “Sorry. I thought I recognized it but… this ain’t what I was thinkin’ of. No, I don’t know what to make of it.”
“Alright,” said Crimson Sky. “Thank you, Inspector. Hang onto that, why don’t you? I’ll be in touch so we can formulate a strategy, but for now if you’ll excuse me, I’m acting-lacking until the Major recovers and I have work to do. Sandback, I need you with me.”
“I’m coming too, sir,” said Pinstripe as he stumbled and stood up straight, keeping his one leg curled and held against his chest.
“No,” said Crimson Sky, “You’re in no condition to fly. Stay put.”
“Sir, with all due respect, I can still do paperwork. Load munitions. …Sweep the unit?”
Crimson Sky found himself smiling in spite of all that had happened. “You won me over. Head to the unit.” He shot his hoof out and stopped the kid from saluting on impulse. “Get going. Inspector, thanks again.”
He and Sandback left the room and headed for the door as Pinstripe hobbled toward the lobby and in the other direction to clear out of the infirmary. “Sir… um… not that I’m criticizing—”
“Criticize,” ordered Crimson Sky as he held the door open, “You know me better than that, Sandback. Speak up; I won’t bite your head off.”
“It’s just… well… we never work with the guards. Is the situation really that bad?”
As they headed outside Crimson Sky abruptly turned and headed to the side of the hospital, beckoning the young medic to follow him where nopony would hear them. “Sandback, did any of that seem strange to you?”
“Yes, sir. That stallion with the inspector gave me the creeps. Don’t know why.”
Somepony shows up and springs them right during a short-handed shift. What are the odds?”
“High, sir,” said Sandback as his typical joker smirk slowly encroached his face, “The guards aren’t exactly… competent.”
“Let’s try to keep this at least somewhat serious, Sandback.”
“Sorry, sir,” said the medic as he quickly wiped the smile off his face, “Who knows how long he or she had been waiting? They might have just gotten lucky and pounced on an available opportunity.”
“Maybe… hopefully.”
“Sir…?”
“I know exactly where that bandana I gave the inspector came from. It belonged to the civvy I found near Loamstone Valley. No doubt the same one who beat the Major senseless,” he said in a low growl as he reflected on having helped her soon-to-be attacker, “The inspector recognized that bandana; she was lying her ass off. Why?”
“Uh… I don’t know, sir?”
“I was talking to the Lieutenant. The red head who murdered Twitch and escaped that cell is the inspector’s cousin. The same one who happened to escape thanks to a convenient little screw up—”
“Sir, hold on,” said Sandback as the gears finally spun in his head, “You don’t honestly think…”
“At this point?” interrupted Crimson Sky with a shake of his head, “No. Nopony in the Criminal Investigation Department has access to the sentry’s schedules. Personally I think she’s loyal and want to give her the benefit of the doubt… but the possibility’s there and I’ve been wrong before.” He took a moment to stare up at the sky. The sun was just rising over the mountains in the distance; most everywhere but here ponies would be going on with their daily lives as if nothing bad was happening in the world. It was a blissful ignorance he found himself envying more and more with age. “For now, this stays between you and me, understood? There are enough waves in our forces without pointing hooves at that inspector. But we’re keeping her close so we can make use of her talents and keep an eye on her.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Now where’s the Lieutenant? Don’t tell me she went off after the escapees?”
“No, sir,” said Sandback, “She took part in the chase last night; got cut up by broken glass and took a good blast to the chest from a unicorn. She’s being treated as we speak, sir.”
“Then I hate to do this to you, Sandback, but you’re on roundup duty. I want every available airpony at HQ in a half-hour. Lose the lethal munitions and suit them up with flashbangs.”
“We’re going non-lethal?”
“Yeah. We’re dragging those fugitives back here kicking and screaming so they can tell us who sprung them. And if somepony in our ranks is a traitor…” he said, feeling a low anger build over the possibility, “They’re going to wish all I do to them is drop some bombs.”
Sandback stood at attention and sharply saluted. “Sir, yes Sir!” he said, all fired up at the thought of it, and exploded from the ground and tore away so fast he missed Crimson Sky’s proud salute and vanished from sight before the Captain’s hoof lowered. He took to the air himself, soaring high enough over Canterlot that he could no longer hear the ambience of the guards as they scrambled about the streets. He couldn’t see the damage the fugitives had done to the city from this high up but could still feel the impact they had left. He thought of one of those cloud carriages, those bulky and ungainly things that rolled about at the whims of some strange engine he didn’t understand, rumbling down the streets and simply overtaking anything and anypony that got in its way. He thought of it slamming into the bodies of guards, rolling over Captain Rumble with enough weight to injure him…
…and what if it had been daytime? Civilians everywhere and Skedaddle, still too young to fly, trotting home from kindergarten as it tore around a blind corner…
He cringed and forced the thought out of his head as he hovered outside the bathroom window of his home; they always kept it unlocked so he could swoop in at any hour and make use of it without disturbing the household. He let the sink run to get good and cold so he could splash water in his face and stared into the mirror. He looked like death warmed over. He washed his face in the cold water and rubbed it briskly with a towel when he caught a glimpse of the door slowly opening.
“…Daddy…?”
“Oh Skedaddle…” he said softly as he turned off the sink and scooped his little filly up, cradling her head over his shoulder, “Did I wake you?”
“Mm-hmm…” she said quietly, still dopey and half-asleep.
He rocked her gently as he carried her past her room and to the master bedroom, wishing every step of the way he could have a few hours of sleep as well, and tucked her into bed with her mom. She looked up at him, blearily blinking her young little eyes, and he gently ran a hoof over her head and sat beside the bed. He watched her with a serene smile on his weathered old face as she closed her eyes and rolled over, hoping she would dream something pleasant for him as well, and kissed her and his wife on the foreheads. He took one more look at his family, snoring softly in a place he’d give almost anything to be in as well, and quietly closed the door behind him.
“Daddy’s got some work to do,” he said darkly as he climbed back out the window and soared towards headquarters.
You know what I really like about this story?
That so few of the "bad guys" are purely bad ponies, and next to none of the "good guys" are purely good ponies.
Dinky comes of as badly corrupted.
Lightningdust also seems dark/evil.
Cover art is a major possible spoiler for what happened to Twilight.
But apart from those? Mostly the others seems like ponies simply caught up in the circumstances, some a tad more cold than others (Yeah I'm looking at Silver Spoon )
Personally I would have liked if you hadn't been that cruel to Dinky.
5489716 .......... well that makes no damn sense. the heart would have repeled, if not killed, twilight and her soldiers.
5572505 Evil just for the sake of evil is uninteresting 100% agreed. I do love me some tragic villains.
5032560
Headcanon accepted.
5572505
Lightning Dust is a self serving idiot/a-hole/fool who leaped on the chance to look good. She practically assassinated Rainbow Dash over a petty grudge.
I still suspect Twilight did something to all the other ponies somehow because this guy is an idiot. He thinks he's on the good side despite being flank deep in the gray and having his hooves in the black. Also practically everything seems to be personal.
Most seem to be oblivious that Twilight had her friends, national heroes murdered and disposed of Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. There is no explanation good enough to make her seem like a good pony in any way when you consider those facts. Twilight is just evil in this story and Dinky seems brainwashed/corrupted.
5572558
I would agree except my favorite villain of all time is The Major from Hellsing Ultimate. He's just a magnificently evil bastard who's basically evil for the lulz (and to try to put Alucard down for good), but he's just having such a ball that we the viewers (or at least I, anyway) enjoy every moment that he's on screen. Other examples include, but are not limited to: Discord, Tirek, and Ladd Russo from Baccano (although that last one was more of a deuteragonist than an antagonist).
Huh, here I was hoping Lightning Dust would have bitten the dust. Not like she doesn't deserve it. Oh well, always next time. Chapter shows even these guys have friends and familys that there afraid for.
5572505
I've always thought that villains with good in them not only are more interesting (and realistic), but also scarier as villains. There is actually only one character in the entire story that I'm going out of my way to write as being irredeemably evil: this one character has no good qualities whatsoever. Let's see who guesses who it is!
5572951
That's exactly why I chose to develop him the way I did. His heart's in the right place, he has it in him to be a hero, and deep down he thinks he is. In another world he might have been one of Celestia's guards. That's what makes him not only a tragedy in my opinion, but also one of the worst villains in the story. I'm terrified of good people who do evil things while thinking they're doing good.
5586393
What bothers me is that he does those things without making any further assessment of whether what he's doing is actually good. He thinks that he's a good pony, and that what he does must therefore be good. Also, the dude must be stupid to think that the law or the princess is always in the right. He's also so emotional about the other pony that got blown up, etc that he's never considered that said pony deserved what he got. There is an awful lot of black and quite a bit of grey going on. He's also ignoring the data that says that the 'civvy' probably has some kind of long-standing grudge against Lightning Dust, thinks Lightning is good pony, and seems to be utterly blind to the changes that rocked the world a short time ago. There's really no reason for any pony to just haul off and beat Lightning senseless for kicks. Especially one who was at a serious disadvantage with only one eye (i.e. no depth perception at all). I realize he is probably unaware of that, but what pony wears a bandana across half their face without something to hide (usually damage).
Ultimately I guess the story as a whole kind of bothers me, because it strains my imagination to seriously believe that everyone is so oblivious to the evil that toppled Celestia/Luna/etc. Especially since the time span doesn't seem long enough. The CMC seem like jaded adults and certainly no older than perhaps middle age at the most. It's hard to imagine that Equestria could really change so much and lose all recollection of the past within less than fifty years. Frankly I'd read it as more like 20-30 yrs at max. Celestia was around for at least a thousand years. That's not something that's easily erased or forgotten by change, so unless you're working up to it, the effects seems overdone.
5590251
Of course. Those serious flaws are what make him an evil man.
As for that second paragraph, well... I guess I can't win 'em all, right?
5590251
One word my friend:
Propaganda.
It's what the Nazis used during the thirties and forties, gaining an ironclad control over Germany and using the nation as an affront to the horrifying hidden mass-genocide. It's what the US and the USSR used during the Cold War, creating a massive gap of hatred and misunderstanding between the East and West that almost let to nuclear annihilation. And it's still being used today, because it's in the nature of human beings, when they are scared, to believe something that's told to them solely because it's what they want to hear, even if it is so far-fetched to the point of being completely unrealistic. Many people are naïve and easily influenced, and this is what makes it so effective.
The Tyrant did the same thing here, tricking the populace into believing that Luna went NM and was prepared to plunge the world into complete darkness again. Although we (the readers) know that it's complete and utter bullshit, the ponies of Equestria didn't. Same thing with the Crystal Empire, although I will save my judgment for that until I know the full story of what exactly happened in the North.
If the freedom fighters (Rainbolts, Cadence, etc.) want to free Equestria, they must first find proof of everything that happened and the atrocities behind it. Then they must release it to the public.
Because if there's one thing that populations hate more than anything else, it's being lied to by their leaders.
I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to get to this update! Welcome back and I hope your trip was restful and enjoyable.
Great scene - I'm glad you added some complexity and added sympathetic voices to the REAF. The closing moments where Sandback goes home to Skedaddle was one of those passages I enjoy in your writing and this story - the pinprick of light in the darkness.
The loss of the CMC cape/patch is going to prove troublesome if it gets into the wrong hooves. Babs Is safe enough for the time being, but if that ever makes it into the throne room... wow... given how you've built up Her Majesty, I'm not sure that anyone would be safe from her reaction. Keep up the fantastic work and I'll keep my eyes open for Chapter 41 when it appears!
5595617
Oh. So he's a bit like Equestria's Judge Frollo?